Growing up, I used to think that all people cared about in business was making money. Thus, I thought all business decisions were based on strategy to maximize the amount of money that the business made in the long term.

People do care about money, sometimes much too much. In their greed for excessive wealth, they lose opportunities that could have brought moderate wealth.

When I got into business, I noticed that a lot of business decisions actually lost money. I realized that money was not the only reason why business decisions are made. Decisions are often disconnected from strategy.

In this easy-to-read book, there are over 190 carefully selected famous quotations – wisdom through the ages – and short commentaries about the quotations. The quotations will help you understand each greed, fear, ego, envy, anger, and laziness so you can understand better how business decisions really get made.

You will also be able to make better business and life decisions yourself.

Learnings from this book

The opposite of greed is moderation – aim at the top but not over the top.

Counteract fear with self-confidence. Believe in yourself, not in the noise of the crowd.

With respect to ego, remember, you’re a smart person but there are always people smarter than you.

On envy, if everyone packed up their defects and put them up for auction in a transparent bag, here’s betting you would bid for your own over everyone else’s.

Anger is natural and it’s often best to express it.

Laziness is probably the worst of all. It’s good to have someone by your side who doesn’t let you get away with it.